Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Feb 5, 2012
Interesting Psak: Yishuv Eretz Yisrael
Personally I do not think it is such a big chiddush, as I remember learning that any activity or behavior that improves life and lifestyles in Eretz Yisrael is included in the mitzva of yishuv eretz yisrael. Though I never before heard it discussed by rabbonim and gedolim.
According to Ladaat.net, a sefer was recently written about the mitzva of yishuv eretz yisrael. In the book, the author comes to a conclusion that when a person turns on his air-conditioner on a hot day, or alternatively his heater on a cold day, if he has in mind that he is doing so in order that it should be good and pleasant in Eretz Yisrael, then he is fulfilling the mitzva of yishuv eretz yisrael.
The author went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky with his thoughts. Rav Chaim enjoyed the concept and, according to Ladaat, said it makes a lot of sense.
So, when you turn on the air or heat, it is that easy to turn it into a mitzva. That also shows how "easy" it is to find mitzvot in Eretz Yisrael!
According to Ladaat.net, a sefer was recently written about the mitzva of yishuv eretz yisrael. In the book, the author comes to a conclusion that when a person turns on his air-conditioner on a hot day, or alternatively his heater on a cold day, if he has in mind that he is doing so in order that it should be good and pleasant in Eretz Yisrael, then he is fulfilling the mitzva of yishuv eretz yisrael.
The author went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky with his thoughts. Rav Chaim enjoyed the concept and, according to Ladaat, said it makes a lot of sense.
So, when you turn on the air or heat, it is that easy to turn it into a mitzva. That also shows how "easy" it is to find mitzvot in Eretz Yisrael!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
If I were a pedantic engineer, I would point out that while the use of air conditioning cools the house, it heats up the outside to a greater extent (not including waste heat generated by the electric company).
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not :)
Cool! Or cooler.
ReplyDeleteMikeage,
ReplyDeleteTrue, but the heat is usually displaced to a place where people aren't hanging out, such as the roof, which doesn't make anyone's life that much more unpleasant. And yes, I am a pedantic engineer.
of course the psak also means that if you say something unpleasant, you're in trouble.
ReplyDeleteeverything is a two edged sword
Yes, air conditioning is the thermodynamic equivalent of scratching a mosquito bite.
ReplyDeleteIt is a restatement of the aggadah at the end of Ketuvot.
ReplyDeleteAnd you just haven't been exposed to the right rabbanim if you hadn't heard (from poskim and 'gedolim') that improving Jewish life is part of yishuv ha-aretz. See the Ramban's definition of the mitzvah in his 4th mitzvah appended to Rambam's Sefer Hamitzvot. The mitzvah is to conquer, settle, and develop the Land ('not to leave it to anyone else nor to desolation').